Games of chance such as card games like poker and blackjack are widely played in various casino facilities and online, such as over the Internet or other computer networks. Typically the players in a tournament pay an entry fee, which allows them to sit at one of several tables where they compete against other players at the table, and every player in the tournament. At a table the players receive different cards, and a table scores its results independently of the results at other tables. The outcome of for example a poker game or tournament depends to an extent upon the skill of the players, but also depends upon chance, or how good are the cards that the players receive.
Games of chance such as card games are regulated by gambling laws in many jurisdictions. Some jurisdictions, such as Nevada, currently prohibit on-line games of chance for money. Such laws were most likely motivated by that legislature's desire to protect the brick-and-mortar establishments that contribute so generously toward the elections of such legislators. Other jurisdictions regulate, but do not prohibit contests of skill. U.S. federal legislators enacted the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA or The Act), that prohibits any person engaged in the business of betting or wagering from knowingly accepting payments in connection with the participation of another person in unlawful Internet gambling. Federal regulators state that the Act generally defines “unlawful Internet gambling” as “placing, receiving, or otherwise knowingly transmitting a bet or wager by any means which involves the use, at least in part, of the Internet where such bet or wager is unlawful under any applicable Federal or State law in the State or Tribal lands in which the bet or wager is initiated, received, or otherwise made. The Act states that its provisions should not be construed to alter, limit, or extend any Federal or State law or Tribal-State compact prohibiting, permitting, or regulating gambling within the United States. The Act does not spell out which activities are legal and which are illegal, but rather relies on the underlying substantive Federal and State laws.” UIGEA as implemented by the Federal Reserve System, 12 CFR Part 233, Regulation GG; Docket No. R-1298 and Department of the Treasury, 31 CFR Part 132, RIN 1505-AB78.
Traditionally, card games such as poker, rummy, bridge or other games such as bingo are classified as games of chance or a mix of chance and skill. In most cases, the playing of games of chance for money or prizes is classified as gambling and therefore regulated or prohibited, and the operators of such games may be found to be in violation of criminal statutes. It is well-known that, to be classified as gambling, the game must be a game of chance where the outcome of the game is determined predominately or fully by the element of chance, there must be a monetary consideration to participate in the game and there must be the ability to win money or monies having equal or greater value than that of the consideration.
With the substantial reduction removal of the element of chance from a game, the game becomes a game of skill and in most cases a game of skill does not constitute gambling. The interpretation of skill as applied to a game is that a game can be considered skilful if a player can significantly affect the outcome of play as a result of his or her own actions. Devices used for the purpose of gambling are based predominately on the element of chance and thus a player would have little or no control of the outcome of the game. Games of skill are commonly played, and in particular there are methods for playing a game such as poker as a game of skill.
To play cards as a game of skill, it is necessary that the random generation of hands that are dealt to players in competition be eliminated. In traditional skill-based card games, the randomness of dealt cards during the play of a game can be reduced by duplicating the hands dealt to players in the same tournament group, such that competing players on different tables playing hands have the opportunity to play identical cards.
During the middle of the 20th century, the game of duplicate bridge became popular. In duplicate bridge, players at a table are dealt hands that are subsequently passed on to another table, and then to another one, and so on. Consequently, a competing pair plays the same deals that any number of other pairs play, with the differences in results being the basis for each pair's final score. Duplicate bridge began its rise in the '30s and continues to be popular worldwide.
Other card games are currently played as games of skill using the same principle used in duplicate bridge. The cards dealt are duplicated for each player in a tournament group and for a player to win, they must rely on their skill or speed. Speed may be the objective in games such as skill bingo where the player that calls “bingo” first when a winning card is discovered is deemed the winner.
In a duplicate poker tournament each table has only one member from each tournament group and each tournament group is represented at each table. This enables players at a particular table to play different cards and maintain game feel and playability while competing against players in the identical seats at the other tournament tables who are playing identical hands. For example, the players seated at seat #1 at each table are compared to determine how well they fared against the other players at their table. The collection of players located at seat #1 of each table is designated as tournament group #1. Similarly, each other seat number has a corresponding tournament group such that each table has the identical number of seats and therefore each tournament group has a representative seated at each table.
Another implementation of skill poker includes each player at a table playing identical hands and thus forming a tournament group, however this implementation is less common as it does not maintain game feel and playability. See U.S. Pat. No. 7,104,542, incorporated by reference herein. However, duplicate poker has a drawback in that it must be played on more than one table, and played against players having different skill levels between the tables played thereon, thereby making the game unequal for participants whose performance is measured against each other in a particular group, because each player in a group is faced with a different set of adversarial players.
Further, alternative chip scoring methods have been devised to score such a duplicate poker game, which further deviates from the familiarity of a game played by well-known rules. See U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0037623, incorporated by reference herein. In other words, while duplicate games may help reduce the effects of chance in a game, it is a different game with different scoring rules that may reduce its popularity with the card playing public. What is needed is a game that follows the ordinary rules and scoring, yet reduces or eliminates the element of chance.